Weather-resistant Pentax Limited 20-40mm F2.8-4 zoom lens announced

Ricoh has announced the HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR, the first zoom lens in its Limited series. It boasts a weather-resistant build (another Limited first) and provides an equivalent focal length of 30.5-61.5mm in 35mm terms when mounted to a Pentax K-mount DSLR body. The lens barrel, hood and cap are all made of aluminum. It will be available in silver and black, at a recommended price of £849.99 in the UK.

HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mmF2.8-4ED Limited DC WR

The first zoom lens in the Limited Lens series, designed for use with PENTAX K-mount lens-interchangeable digital cameras

RICOH IMAGING U.K LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of the HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mmF2.8-4ED Limited DC WR interchangeable lens, designed for use with PENTAX K-mount lens-interchangeable digital cameras. The first zoom lens in the acclaimed Limited Lens series, this zoom lens features a lens-installed AF driving motor and a dependable weather-resistant construction.

This is the first zoom lens of the high-performance Limited Lens series, providing exceptional visual description, distinctive appearance and a meticulously detailed finish. It features a two-times zoom range covering focal lengths from moderate wide angle to standard, and a large maximum aperture of F2.8 at its wide-angle end. In addition to the state-of-the-art HD coating and completely round-shaped diaphragm, it also comes equipped with a weather-resistant construction – a first for the Limited Lens series - and a smooth, quiet AF system driven by a lens-installed AF motor, to capture beautiful, high-quality images, even in demanding weather conditions.

Main Features

1. The first two-times zoom lens in the Limited Lens series

With its two-times zoom coverage from 20mm to 40mm, this lens offers a focal-length coverage from 30.5mm to 61.5mm (in 35mm format) when mounted on a PENTAX K-series lens-interchangeable digital camera body. It provides the most frequently used focal lengths required for many popular applications, such as scenic photography, snapshots and portraiture, making it the ideal choice as an all-purpose, everyday lens.

Inheriting the design concept of the Limited Lens series, this lens is designed with an optical construction that reproduces the feeling of depth while minimising astigmatism over the entire zoom range. It allows the photographer to optimise the subject’s visual description, by making its appearance softer at larger apertures and sharper at smaller apertures. Its lens barrel, hood and cap are made of a high-grade aluminium material, and are hand-machined for perfect proportions and beautiful texture. The zoom ring in the mid-section of the lens barrel features a series of grooves to facilitate zooming operation.

3. State-of-the-art optical technology

The lens has been treated with the PENTAX-developed HD coating*, a high-grade, multi-layer coating that reduces reflection in the visible light spectrum to less than 50 percent of that of conventional multi-layer coatings. This allows the user to capture crisp, high-contrast images free of flare and ghost images, even in adverse lighting conditions. It also incorporates an ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass and a super-low-dispersion glass element in its optics to deliver clear, high-resolution images with edge-to-edge sharpness, while effectively compensating for chromatic aberrations over the entire zoom range.

* HD stands for High Resolution.

4. The first weather-resistant lens in the Limited Lens series

This lens is the first Limited Lens-series model to feature a weather-resistant construction, with seven special seals to prevent the intrusion of water and moisture into the lens interior. By mounting it on a PENTAX weather-resistant digital SLR camera body, the user is assured of greater durability and reliability when shooting in the rain or mist, as well as locations subject to spray or splashes.

5. Other features

Smooth, quiet AF operation using a lens-installed AF driving motor

Round-shaped diaphragm to produce a natural, beautiful bokeh (blur) effect, while minimising the streaking effect of point light sources

The lens features the Quick-Shift Focus System, which allows the user to instantly switch to manual-focus operation after the subject is captured in focus by the camera’s AF system

It is to indicate the HD coating of the new lenses, as opposed to the green ring of SMC coated lenses. Still it is a metallic red rather than bright red of L lenses. I suppose it is difficult to choose a colour for the ring. The Gold ring is used by Pentax for thier DA* Lenses (along with the green ring for SMC) as well as Nikon and Tamron. Blue is used by both Olympus and Samsung, Sony use Orange. Anyway, both Canon and Pentax and Ricoh use Red in their logo's so why not?

Thanks for injecting a dose of common sense here, offertonhatter. Also, how can someone get so worked up about a red ring - pink or brown would've been kinda goofy, wouldn't they?

As for quality, have you ever held (let alone shot) any of these beautifully crafted Limited lenses? I happen to own two of them, still with the green ring, and I can assure you they're an absolute joy to use.

Great news for Pentax users, not this particular lens but the fact that Ricoh apparently bought Pentax for the right reasons! They seem to be willing to invest in the legendary Limited line that Pentax users treasure so much, rather than trying to make a quick buck off the brand.

That is a sweet small lens. I may consider it, even though I already have the 21mm and 40mm Limiteds, a 28mm and a 35mm in between. Bonus of DC drive and WR too. Being from a rather wet North West England, the latter point is important, as currently my only WR lens in this range is the kit 18-55. Now for Pentax to bring out a DC WR 135mm F2.5 too. Save me from constantly using my big 50-135 all the time......:-)

Not very similar except in price, size and weather-sealing - the Oly is sharp wide open (unlike the Pentax which is soft), constant f/2.8, much more useful range covering everything from landscapes to portraits. True workhorse, which coupled with E-M1 or even E-M5 can earn some money to a professional owner.

If you have a review that shows the Pentax is soft wide open a link would be good. But if you are basing your statement on your misunderstanding of the Ricoh release note, that isn't what I had in mind. Yep, it not a straight comparison between the two, but its close enough and would be useful for my purposes which is why I asked.

In my world that means "a few steps forward into car traffic" or "a few steps back through a plate glass window". For street/indoor photography, a standard zoom is a blessing.

2. "Go through your EXIF data and see what you use most, so you can buy a prime".

I did. 35 and 50mm equiv were neck and neck, with 43mm (true standard) maybe 15% higher because that's how I set my lens between shots. I have shots of people sat around a table that need around 28-30mm.

So, yay for standard zooms instead of primes.

Personally I'd want it to go wider, for when I shoot "the room" rather than "people in the room". And I'd want brighter, because I live in the dark. I'd live with the weight to get those options.

But for outdoor SP guys, this could be really nice -- set it to a standard length between shots to be ready for grabs, zoom to frame when you have the time, choose a place to stand if you have the freedom.

APS-C SLRs are very low efficient cameras. it's more difficult, costly at lower performance, to design and make lenses for APS-C SLRs, while APS-C mirrorless should be good enough, that there is little benefit to go A7.

This is listed as about 2.7in long, so it's about the same length as the FA31 or the 18-55 WR. It also means it's significantly smaller than the DA* 16-50.

This is pretty much the largest lens I'm willing to consider in any system. I actually wish they only did a 20-30mm lens, and kept it smaller, but I think I will be in the minority in wanting that, LOL.

I no longer shoot Pentax or DSLRs, but I just might pick up an old K5 just for this, so I can have a good compact weather sealed kit. I used to shoot with the DA15/FA31/FA77 plus the 18-55WR as my weather sealed lens.

Though I kind of wish Pentax would just re-issue the DA15 ir DA21 as a WR lens, LOL. That would be even better for me.

a 24/1.8 or similar prime sounds good. Sony 24/1.8 is bulky, pricey, and not high performance that I think Pentax should be able to do better (it may be difficult to be as compact as Canon 22/2 for much longer back focus distance).

Olympus Four Thirds had some really wonderful 2X zoom lenses, like the 7-14mm, 9-18mm, and 11-22mm.

A 20-40mm lens on an APSC camera results in an equivalent focal length of 30-60mm on full frame 35mm, making this the ideal normal zoom lens.

The advantage of a modest zoom range like 2X, rather then 4X or 5X, is that you can keep size and weight down, and quality way up. This little gem doesn't look any larger than a 35mm or 50mm prime lens.

it's more the skill of lens design and manufacturing. that we should expect prime level performance for narrow zoom range (< 3x) lenses. Canon 24-70/2.8L2 and 70-200/2.8LIS2 are as good or better than f/2.8 primes.

Indeed a 20-50 or even 20-70 would have been better, but this lens still covers very relevant range and in a compact package. At the same time just 2x zoom should allow for very good optical quality. It would be IMO logical if a 50-150 (give or take) lens would follow.

Times are getting remarkably interesting again in Pentaxland, I must say. The takeover by Ricoh doesn't only seem to mean the appearance of new names under LCD screens, but also investment in new exciting products. Go on like this, Ricoh!

Well, I think they serve different purposes. I have the DA* 16-50 and it is the lens that sits on my camera most of the time. However, I still covet this lens and would use it as a walk about lens, where I now use my Fujifilm X100s.

should not expect good cost performance choosing Pentax, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, or Fujifilm, unless one only shops some deep plunged older models (price goes down much faster than relative performance to the market average).

Whatever. The K50, for example has high, high end features... a pentaPRISM viewfinder, weather sealing... at the same price as bargain cams from none of the brands you mention above nor those other ones you are obviously referring to.

well I think it fdoes because otherwise the choice of a 30 to 60mm focal rage is very odd.. but at the same time if it does it would have made more sense to have the focal lengths of 24, and 28mm on the barrel rather than 25mm and 30mm.....hmm, no I am not sure what to think

It’s also disappointing for an autofocus lens – although still somewhat useful at the wide end of the zoom range.

I think this lens looks fantastic – definitely a modest little system-seller – but if even Pentax in a Limited lens can’t prioritise a long, well-populated distance scale, I have little hope for the rest of the industry. Serious photographers would happily sacrifice some autofocus speed for a much longer distance scale on a lens like this. I’m sure of it.

Half of it is the fault of reviewers who don’t really practice photography, and who therefore don’t appreciate the usefulness of long scales (instead massively overvaluing split-second differences in autofocus speed).

This lens is drop-dead gorgeous. But if its release means that 20mm f/2.8 is as fast and wide as it's going to get in Penatax APS-C-land for the foreseeable future, I'm crushed! Ricoh, say it ain't so! Give us our DA* 17mm f/2 already, we know you can do it! Or: if you're going full frame, then a DFA* 24mm f/2. Pretty please?

Got one. It's blurry at the edges up to f/4 and difficult to focus on my k5 wide open. Also, the lens hood is flimsy and cracked. Also not so great for flare, shooting into a light source. A modern Pentax lens would almost surely do a better job, one would hope. The bokeh is very interesting, but nowhere near as smooth and magical as what the FA31 puts out. And: 24mm is just wide enough for me on FF. On APSC it's about 50% too long.

Heh, no not a K-01. A good idea, a mirrorboxless K mount cam, poorly designed. You'll never get the mount into the slim design people associate mirrorless cameras. Had it been a mirrorboxless dslr with a slimmer body where possible I think it would have gone abit better.

When I look at the Pentax lens roadmap published earlier, this lens is exactly what the roadmap promised. http://www.openpn.com/wp-content/gallery/apn-pentax/pentax-k-mount-lens-roadmap_2013.jpgWhat makes me look forward to other annonced lenses, especially the upcoming DA zoom with cca. 16-85mm and the 150-400 (?) telezoom.I can imagine having a standardly fast zoom with sufficient reach (from wideangle 16 mm to short tele 85 mm) say with constant f4 and for low-light situations the Sigma 18-35/1,8. This could be the perfect lens combination for me. ;-)

That may very well be, but the fact that the Pentax is smaller means it should be cheaper. There's less glass inside it, less material costs. So it should be cheaper to make, which means the margins on this lens are probably way higher than for the Sigma.

So lets wait for the test results. If they are excellent, than 1000 USD is a price many will be willing to pay for it, including me.

A truly unique and useful lens. Perfectly balanced to be the outstanding feature.

Ah, if the next Pentax Camera is like an A7 from Sony, except have the viewfinder in the corner, then we have a really cool system! (And I do not care for the thin camera body if each lens has to be longer to compensate for the short flange mount, but I care the build in EVF and I care it is placed in the corner like Range finder cameras, as in the corner it is more convenient to use and the camera does not collide with my nose)

You can bet that the picture quality will be better, just like every Limited lens outperforms normal DA lenses. The point is the 20-40 Limited is not a competitor to DA* 16-50. The 16-50 is noticeably wider and longer, but much bigger and much heavier. I see the 20-40mm as an alternative to Limited primes: similar image quality, but with the advantage of a single lens mounted.

If it works for maxola67, why make it sour for him? Different people photograph in different ways. Some features are important to some, others are not. This lens is significantly smaller, it will vignette less with the pop up flash on the wide end. If this is what he needs to make his pictures work, then switching to this lens is the right choice for him. It sure looks like it is not the right choice for nicolaiecostel. My point: Please do not impose your way of photographing onto other people!

That't simple there are times when you haven't enough time or it's not quite comfortable(and some times you're just lazy) for you to use an external flash and then you use a handy pop-up flash.BTW, i've got an universal diffusor to eliminate the vignette(it coexists good with my 16-50).

Would it? I repeat, look at the size and weight: it´s only 283 g, which is in the league of prime lenses. Make it a constant f2,8 and it would be much bigger and heavier (see Sigma 18-35/1,8, even smaller zoom, but f1,8 makes it weigh 800 g).

No lens makes you better photographer. This is not the right way to look at new gear. It just allows you to take technically better pictures (sharper, with more contrast etc.)1000 USD is a lot, but so is the price of other Limited lenses, so it fits.

Hm, not sure why this is such a big deal. I mean there are plenty lenses out there with a constant aperture of f/2.8 like the Tamron 17-50 or sigma version or even the Tokina UWAs. Both of the aforementioned have broader focal length - although I have to admit both will propably be nowhere near the image quality of the 20-40.

Still I think this is rather weird for a lens to have only 20mm focal length radius. Nothing for me. I'd prefer a 10-30 f/2.8 that'd be something vanguardist. Still good to see many Pentaxians like it, the better they're situated the earlier I get a good UWA. ;)

And what do you think of Sigma 18-35mm, only 17mm radius?Sigma had to offer longer reach to achieve constant f1,8. Despite this small reach it weighs more than 800g. Compare it to this new Pentax: 283g is weight of a prime lens. Besides, Pentax already has a 16-50mm/2,8 lens (which has 565 g).So the whole point is lightweight and prime lens quality, imagine you have 2 limited primes (HD 21 mm Limited and HD 40mm Limited) in one lens.

One important thing that wasn´t in the article is the weight: 283 g pretty much answers all the complaints about small zoom and no constant f2,8.Considering this weight (and small size) the lens makes perfect sense and there´s no point in comparing this lens to 16-50/f2,8 zoom (which weighs 565 g, i.e. twice as much).

Hey, we want more photos! And more info!All these photos show the lens at 30mm. Will the lens change its length when zooming? If so, by how much?How is the DOF scale supposed to work for a zoom? Will it give you reliable data no matter what the FL, or will it be usable only for one end of the lens?Is that the lens hood, or just a ring on which to attach a lens hood?Will this lens work with older bodies (I have a K10D, still working ...)Is the lens dust proof? I'd like to see a picture of the back of the lens (the mount) - because most stubborn dust enters my lens when changing the lens, via the back of the lens.

I can't see what exactly are you referring to ... It might be an issue with the angle or with the fact that one of the blacks has the filter/hood on it ...But they seem equally extended to me, and they are all shot at 30 mm.